SPOTLIGHT #4

The number of start-ups is increasing across the globe, and in France more than anywhere else. We can even talk about it as a “Startup Nation”, with 20 000 start-ups across the country, 12000 in the Ile-de-France region and 3000 in Paris. We have an innovation cluster trying to transform tomorrow’s world, and start-ups are also an amazing opportunity to create jobs with 92% of their new employees being given a long-term contract in France.

The “Venture Capitalists”, or investors, agree that recruitment is the most strategic activity for a start-up, even as important raising funds. To get developed, a start-up depends a lot on people which operate it. Without a team, there’s no growth! The success of a start-up can be measured thanks to its ability to attract people with the correct skills in accord with the company’s values. Steve Jobs said: “The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world”. Recruiting the right person for your start-up is an amazing way to promote growth, meaning that you have to invest time to identify and find your future employees.

HOW TO RECRUIT? 5 steps to succeed in your recruitment:

Identify your needs: What kind of tasks will the person face? What kind of objectives? How? In what areas?

Write a job description.

Source: Find the best ways of sourcing candidates to target the profiles you want to recruit.

Evaluate: 3 main aspects to identify: Motivations, skills and parallels between the candidate and your company. During the job interview, you can put the candidate in a situation to analyze their behaviors.

Integrate: the integration phase is often underestimated, while really it’s the opportunity to make the best impression. It’s too easy to think that “he/she will figure out how to do it, we’re a start-up”. You have to take time and make some effort to create the best starting conditions for your new employee.

Who should you recruit?Working in a start-up is first and foremost a state of mind. Your future co-workers must be able to quickly adopt the same state of mind, so that they can provide the expected growth.

10 skills recommended for a good start-up candidate:

Team spirit: Being able to share information and communicate with your coworker is one of the keys to success and having a cohesive working relationship.

“Out of the box”: You need candidates who can think differently, to always stay one step ahead of the competition.

Autonomy: Your new coworker will have to learn quickly and easily on their own.

Versatility: You can’t have an army of assistants.

Sense of responsibility: With growth, your candidate will have to be able to face and handle new responsibilities.

Optimism: Being positive is a state of mind and you have to be able to see it in your candidates, because it can have a huge impact on the team atmosphere.

A connecting mind: Your strength is to be always ready for new methods and innovations.

Creativity: To inspire innovation within your company, you can let your coworkers can be a part of brainstorming sessions.

Pragmatism: It’s one thing to be an optimist and a creative, but your partner has to keep in mind the reality and the feasibility of a project.

Workforce: If you invest a lot time and energy in your work, the same applies to your coworkers.

You still have to attract candidates in a context where the “war of talented persons” forces the company to bring forward its assets to convince the best profiles to join.